Antenna mounting bracket

ABSTRACT

THIS DISCLOSURE RELATES TO AN ANTENNA MOUNTING BRACKET ADAPTED PARTICULARLY FOR USE ON AN AUTOMOBILE AND HAVING A BASE SUPPORT FOR AN ATENNA WHEREBY THE ANTENNA IS CARRIED BY THE BASE SUPPORTED PROPERLY AND SECURELY IN POSITION. THE SUPPORTING BASE FOR THE ANTENNA MAY BE SHIFTABLY ATTACHED TO A PANEL OF THE AUTOMOBILE BODY UPON WHICH IT MOUNTED FOR MOVEMENT TO DIFFERENT POSITIONS THEREON AND WITHOUT MARRING OR DEFACING IN ANY WAY THE OUTER SURFACE OF THE PANEL TO WHICH IT IS ATTACHED. THE ANTENNA SUPPORTING BASE IS SECURED TO A MARGIN OF THE PANEL OF THE BODY WHICH PANEL MAY BE SHIFTABLE WITH RESPECT TO THE BODY OF THE VEHICLE, AS FOR EXAMPLE THE LID OF THE TRUNK COMPARTMENT OF AN AUTOMOBILE. THE SUP-   PORTING BASE FOR THE ANTENNA IS PROVIDED WITH NOVEL SECURING MECHANISM INCLUDING A LEVER HAVING ONE END PORTION GRIPPING THE PANEL TO WHICH THE BASE IS ATTACHED AND HAVING ANOTHER PORTION CONNECTED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY WITH THE SUPPORTING BASE. THIS LEVER IS SO MOUNTED AND ARRANGED THAT ANY FORCE EXERTED UPON THE BASE TENDING TO DETACH THE SAME IN ANY WAY FROM THE PANEL, IS RESISTED SO STRONGLY BY LEVERAGE REACTION FROM THE LEVER, THAT THE BASE IS HELD AT ALL TIMES FIRMLY AND SECURELY IN POSITION UPON THE PANEL.

Jan. 12, 1.971 E. H. GRONLUND 3,555,551

ANTENNA MOUNTING BRACKET I Filed Sept. 9,1968 7 i 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS Jan. 12, 1971 v E GRQYNLUND I 3,555,551 I ANTENNA MOUNTING BRACKET Filed Sent. 9, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m VENTOR 174 /1 57 aeo/vzu/w A T TORNE VS United States Patent US. Cl. 343-715 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to an antenna mounting bracket adapted particularly for use on an automobile and having a base support for an antenna whereby the antenna is carried by the base supported properly and securely in position. The supporting base for the antenna may be shiftably attached to a panel of the automobile body upon which it is mounted for movement to different positions thereon and without marring or defacing in any way the outer surface of the panel to which it is attached. The antenna supporting base is secured to a margin of the panel of the body which panel may be shiftable with respect to the body of the vehicle, as for example the lid of the trunk compartment of an automobile. The supporting base for the antenna is provided with novel securing mechanism including a lever having one end portion gripping the panel to which the base is attached and having another portion connected directly or indirectly with the supporting base. This lever is so mounted and arranged that any force exerted upon the base tending to detach the same in any way from the panel, is resisted so strongly by leverage reaction from the lever, that the base is held at all times firmly and securely in position upon the panel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This mounting bracket or supporting base for an antenna is designed primarily for use with an antenna as employed in conjunction with a telephone in the automobile, and while such have heretofore been known, the instant disclosure is adapted to overcome defects of the older known devices such as the inability to vary the position of the antenna so as to obtain the best results and to position the same at different places upon the outer surface of an automobile body panel without marring or defacing the surface of the panel.

A disadvantage of certain prior known devices was that to maintain them properly in position it was a common practice to attach them securely to a panel by piercing the panel to obtain good securement of the support to the panel. Applicants device is intended to provide proper securement without any disfigurement of the panel.

In the prior practice it was not possible to obtain the desired shiftability of the antenna supporting base without disfigurement of the panel. This invention provides securing means which is adapted to be engaged with the desired supporting panel of the automobile body without disfiguring it and to also hold such supporting base for the antenna securely against the outer surface of the panel overlaid by the base and uniformly throughout that area of the base which overlies the panel thereby obtaining the secure positioning of the base on the panel.

Not only was it difiicnlt if not impossible in the prior practice to obtain positive and secure attachment'of the antenna supporting base to the outer surface of the panel at all times and under all conditions, and to obtain such an attachment that the antenna supported by the base was always held at its desired position of projection outwardly away from the panel upon which it was mounted. My device functions to maintain its desired position on its panel under all conditions and to maintain the antenna at its desired position.

In the disclosure here shown:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective of a portion of the rear deck or trunk lid which shows the antenna supporting base secured to the liftable lid of the trunk compartment adjacent to a margin thereof;

FIG. 2. is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of a modification taken on a line similar to that of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a horizontal sectional view of said modification taken on a line similar to that of FIG. 3.

The antenna itself is indicated in the several figures by the numeral 8. The antenna bracket or supporting base includes an inverted cup-shaped element indicated by the numeral 10. The margin of the cup-shaped element is covered with a protective cushioning peripheral channel 12 which is illustrated as gripping the free margin of the cup-shaped element 10. Such channel might be formed of rubber cushioning material or the like adapted to seat upon the outer face of the body panel upon which it is mounted without marring the same. The antenna itself has a small finish plate or the like indicated as 14, received over the lower end of the antenna and secured thereto and seated upon a washer like cushion element 16 resting directly as illustrated upon the outer surface of the bottom of the cup-shaped element 10'.

The washer like portion 16 constitutes a cushion sealing element bearing upon the outer surface of the bottom of the inverted cup 10. The lower end of the antenna which projects through the bottom. of the cup 10 has an enlarged diameter and is externally threaded so as to receive a nut 18 as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. There is an electrical connection 20 which is electronically coupled with the base of the antenna.

It will be seen that the cup-shaped portion 10 has a diameter which when the device is mounted upon the trunk lid panel 24 projects slightly beyond the margin of the panel so that the cup overhangs slightly a fixed portion of the automobile deck indicated as 26, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3. The cup-shaped part therefore has a bearing throughout the major portion of its perimeter, not only upon the trunk lid, but a small portion of it bears against this fixed portion 26 of the body so as to insure a stable support at all times for the antenna bracket.

To secure the supporting base or bracket to the trunk lid there is provided novel securing mechanism in the form of a lever like mechanism indicated as 28 in 'FIG. 2. This lever element is of a fork shape at its inner end and the two arms of the fork, each being indicated as 30 (see FIGS. 3 and 4), are shown as pivotally coupled as by rivets 32 with the side 'walls of the cup element note particularly FIGS. 3 and 4. This lever has an outer end portion which is channel shaped as illustrated at 34, FIG. 2. This channel shape is shown in FIG. 2 as received over the margin of the trunk lid 24. The channel shape is lined with a non-marring resilient cushion element 36 so that the lever structure may be tightly grippingly engaged over the margin of the trunk lid but will not mar or disfigure the same, and the resilient cushion element 36 permits the leverage produced by the tightening screws 38 to exert greater effect.

The channel shape 34 is provided with a plurality of screws, two here indicated as 38, in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. It will be noted from these figures that the screws extend through the lower wall of the channel shape and bear against the underside of the trunk lid. As they are tightened down they exert a tension through the long arm of the lever upon the rivets 32 tending to hold the cupshapedelement 10 downwardly along a line, which it will be apparent from FIG. 3, is approximately the diameter of the cup element 10 parallel to the margin of the trunk lid so that the cup element is held downwardly against the outer surface of the trunk lid approximately uniformly throughout its contact therewith. This leverage which is maintained constantly or at least reacts automatically to resist any force tending to act upon the base to dislocate the base in any way. This leverage holds the cup base downwardly firmly against the supporting panel 24.

The cup element 10 and the supported antenna is therefore held downwardly against the outer surface of the trunk lid with a substantially uniform tension throughout its line of bearing thereupon so that there is no tendency for the same to be tilted or displaced with respect to the trunk lid and it maintains a secure position of the antenna at its desired placement, wherever it may be, projecting properly away from the automobile body. This is important because otherwise there might be a resulting dis placement of the base of the structure due to pressure exerted thereupon by the antenna carried thereby.

It is noted that the electrical connection from the antenna extends downwardly through the same space between the trunk lid and the opposed margin of the body as the channel portion of the securing arm 34. This electrical connection may extend forwardly through the automobile body to a position adjacent to the drivers seat so as to be connected up with a telephone mounted as desired at such point and constitutes no part of the instant invention of the mounting bracket or antenna supporting base.

FIGS. 5 and 6 of the drawing illustrate a modification of the construction. The cup-shaped element is indicated by the numeral 10, the same as in the first four figures of the drawing, and the antenna is indicated by the numeral 8. The plate or flange-like portion is identified as 14 and the washer as 16, and the nut which is threaded upon the base of the antenna and holds the antenna down is indicated as 18. It is not shown very clearly in FIGS. 5 and 6 but the nut would be the same as is shown in the first four figures of the drawing. The only important difference between the construction shown in the first four figures and that shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is that the two forks in FIGS. 5 and -6 at the one end of the lever arm 28 are identified as 29 instead of 30 in the first four figures, and these forks are pivoted to angular ends of a bracket 31. Such angular ends are indicated in FIG. 6 as 33 and the pivotal securement of the forks 29 thereto is by means of rivets 35 as shown in FIG. 6. The antenna extends through the base of the bracket 31 and the nut 18 is shown as threaded on the antenna and holding the parts together as illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6.

This construction of FIGS. 5 and 6 does not mar the 4 sides of the cup-shaped element by extending rivets there through as does the construction shown in the FIGS. 3 and 4 of the structure heretofore described Otherwise the construction of FIGS. 5 and 6 is generally as shown in the first four figures of the drawing. The outer end of the lever arm is provided with a channelshaped part identified as 35 and there is a protective cushioning channel 37 received therein as shown in FIG. 5. The lower wall of the channel 35 is pivoted with screws 39 in lieu of the screws 38 shown in the first four figures. These screws 39 press against the underside of the trunk lid so as to exert a leverage through the lever 38 tending to draw the antenna and its base supporting cup down tightly against the top of the trunk lid. The electrical connection to the antenna proper is shown at 31 instead of being identified by the number 20 as shown in the first four figures. The operation of this device of FIGS. 5 and 6 is similar to that of the first four figures of the drawing.

What is claimed is:

1. A mounting bracket 'for an automobile antenna comprising, in combination, an antenna supporting base having an antenna supporting portion adapted to support an antenna projecting outwardly and away from the base, said base adapted to be mounted upon the outer surface of an automobile panel adjacent to a margin thereof and shaped to have a portion of its surface area opposed to the panel in proximity to the antenna supporting portion of the base recessed to be spaced from the surface of the automobile panel, and a securing arm having one end adapted to be engaged with the margin of said panel and having its opposite end connected with the base on opposite sides of its antenna supporting portion and exerting a tension on the base tending to hold the same securely against the automobile panel, said base characterized in that it is in the form of an inverted cup shape and the base of the antenna extends through the bottom of the cup shape and there is a U-shaped bracket secured to the antenna within the cup-shaped base and securing the antenna to the base, and the end of the securing ann connected with the base is of a fork shape and its two forks are pivotally connected with the two ends of the U-shaped bracket within the cup-shaped base 2. A mounting bracket for an automobile antenna comprising in combination, an antenna supporting base having an antenna supporting portion adapted to support an antenna projecting outwardly and away from the central portion of the base, said base being in the form of an inverted cup mounted upon the outer surface of an automobile panel adjacent to a margin thereof and shaped to have a portion of its surface area opposed to the panel and in proximity to the antenna supporting portion of the base recessed to be spaced from the surface of the panel, and a securing arm of a generally forked shape at one end having its two forks each pivotally coupled at its outer end with the cup-shaped base interiorly thereof, said opposite end of the arm provided with a channel portion received over the margin of the panel upon which the base is mounted, exerting a leverage tending to hold the base substantially throughout its area of contact with the panel securely thereagainst.

3. A mounting bracket for an automobile antenna comprising, in combination, an antenna supporting base having an antenna supporting portion adapted to support an antenna projecting outwardly and away from the central portion of the base, said base being in the form of an inverted cup mounted upon the outer surface of an automobile panel adjacent to a margin thereof and shaped to have a portion of its surface area opposed to the panel and in proximity to the antenna supporting portion of the base recessed to be spaced from the surface of the panel, and characterized in that a part of the base projects beyond the margin of the automobile panel and bears upon a stationary portion of the automobile body adjacent to the margin of the panel, and a securing arm of a gen- References Cited erally forked shape at one end having its two forks each pivotally coupled at its outer end with the cup-shaped UNITED STATES PATENTS base interiorly thereof, said opposite end of the arm hav- 3,369,247 2/1968 Bacow 343-715 ing a channel portion received over the margin of the 5 FOREIGN PATENTS panel upon which the base is mounted, exerting a leverage tending to hold the base substantially throughout its area 1235268 3/1960 France 343.715

of contact with the panel securely thereagainst and ELI LIEBERMAN, Primary Examiner throughout the area of contact with the stationary portion 5 of the automobile body overhung by the base holding the 10 US. Cl. X.R. same securely thereagainst. 

